His rep in Moscow referred me to his Facebook page, where Prokhorov’s comments include: “I hope my supporters will forgive me for quoting Lenin, but politics is a concentrated expression of economics. The economy of Ukraine is on the edge of catastrophe.”

Prokhorov also called for cooperation between the US and Russia without any criticism of Vladimir Putin, the Russian strongman he is ostensibly hoping to unseat in 2018.

Prokhorov ranks 109th on the new Forbes billionaires list, with a net wealth of $10.9 billion. But it is estimated he lost a bundle because of Russia’s military brinkmanship. Russian stock markets have not reacted as well to the land grab as the nation’s populace has.